VinSolutions/AutoTrader.com Keeps Track of Over a Million Cars With Centerprise Automated ETL

“Every time we brought in a new dealer, there was a lot of development effort that had to be taken into account, whereas with Astera, it’s a lot faster process, and it doesn’t require a developer to be involved every step of the way.”

AutoTrader.com is one of the most popular sources for market data on new and used automobiles for sale. Data management subsidiary VinSolutions bears the brunt of the data integration challenges for AutoTrader and other websites that dealers use to advertise their vehicles. For each car, there may be more than 100 individual pieces of data that need to be updated on a daily basis. With listings on more than a million cars requiring updates every day, plus other value-added solutions for marketing, finance, search optimization, mobile, and social media, the scale of the challenge for VinSolutions approaches big-data territory.

About two years ago, VinSolutions decided to automate its homegrown ETL process and get out of the custom development business. After evaluating several data integration software solutions, the company chose Centerprise Data Integrator because it provided all the functionality needed, including automated ETL, and the easy-to-use interface enables business users in the implementation department to work with the software.

Before, it took up to two months for a developer to do the custom-coding to ensure the accurate capture of data from a new client’s data management system into the VinSolutions network. With Astera, that has been cut to about an hour’s worth of work. With 70 to 100 car dealers going online with VinSolutions every month, the company has eliminated a lot of custom data mapping work on the part of its development team.